How to Fight Soil Nutrient Loss with Prairie Strips

Industrial agriculture is profitable, but recent trends show that profit may only last in the short run if soil health isn’t prioritized. Farmers in the central US in the 1930s learned the hard way. By over-tilling the soil, they lost precious topsoil, and the Dust Bowl ensued. Farmers today may notice crop vigor declines when it’s planted in the same area season after season. 

Since then, soil preservation via conservation programs has come to the fore. With strategies like planting prairie strips, soil nutrient loss is reduced. This is possible for farms with large acreages, and for smaller market farms too. Prairie strips do not need to be installed all at once, and can be introduced to the farm in stages. 

There are plenty of other reasons for planting prairie strips – soil nutrient loss being one factor. These strips work beyond the soil level, controlling pests, preserving ground water, providing more revenue to the farm, and much more. 

Why Install Prairie Strips?

The practice has roots way back in history, but we can thank soil scientists, conservationists, and various agricultural extensions for its recent promotion and development of standard techniques. The benefits are simple: prairie strips improve water quality, conserve water resources, provide wildlife habitat, and reduce soil erosion. 

By converting 10-25% of your farmland into these strips, you can grow large areas of a single crop without the same risk of nutrient loss that you would have without them. Add to that a regularly rotated and cover- cropped area, and you’ll have increased yields. 

Prairie strips filter water and hold it in the ground where it is needed. Any fertilizer runoff is contained within the strip and stays out of sensitive waterways, where it can cause detrimental effects. This keeps nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil on your farm, rather than running off somewhere else where you can’t access it. 

Prairie strips improve biodiversity on your farm. Increased biodiversity has multiple benefits to crops. These strips attract more wildlife that remains within the strip, rather than your cropland. Furthermore, agricultural pests will be thwarted by beneficial predator insects that rely on prairie plants. 

Aside from water preservation and preventing nutrient loss, prairie strips invite more pollinators to your farm. This means they contribute to better fruit and grain set and higher yields.    

How To Install Prairie Strips

Soil nutrient loss prevention is as easy as putting in the work and spending around $40 per acre. If you’re working with a ton of acreage, there are programs available to assist in cutting the cost. 

Size

To install prairie strips, soil nutrient loss is best controlled with at least 10% of the land outfitted for this purpose. Of course, you can install more than 10%, but just this amount will do plenty of good. Considerably high slope and low soil quality warrant more to have the desired soil and water retention effects.  

Each strip should be 30 feet wide to make your farm eligible for the USDA Conservation Reserve Program. This width also makes it possible to use current commercial farm tools within and outside of the strip.  

Placement

While there are many ways to install these strips, the basic recommendations for where to put them hinge on how your farm is laid out. Look for steep hills, slopes, and areas where water tends to erode the soil. Place strips between crop fields or on the borders of your farm. 

If there are areas where yields tend to be low, plant prairie strips. Soil nutrient loss will then be reduced, and your yields should increase. You’ll begin to notice significant increases as year three comes along. 

Timing

Before you prep and plant your prairie strip, consider the last time you used herbicide in the area (if this is a regular practice on your farm). Consult a label database to determine what the half life of that herbicide is. You want to plant outside of that timespan. 

Before you prep the area for planting, choose which plants you’ll include in the strip. Many native seeds are best sown in fall to overwinter and sprout in spring. Warm-season grasses can be planted in spring, and cover crops have varied timings. Knowing these helps you set a schedule for strip prep and planting. 

The Setup

To begin, farmers should till and remove any perennial weeds that proliferate nestled in the dense foliage of a prairie strip. Some sources recommend tilling twice to reduce perennial weeds. Remember, if any herbicides are used to complete this task, avoid seeding within the half-life of that herbicide. 

Many agricultural extensions recommend pre-planting with soybean, corn, or cover crops. There is debate among conservationists about whether or not this is the best practice for prairie strips that will contain native plants. While pre-planting provides benefits to the soil, eliminating them among native plants can be difficult. They have a tendency to seed out and can be hard to manage.

After terminating the cover crop – if this is the route you’ve chosen – seed at the appropriate time at a rate of at least 40 seeds per square foot. If you have extra seed, it’s ok to overseed, and sometimes it’s beneficial in instances where re-emerging soy, corn, or cover crop is expected. 

Maintenance

If you’re dealing with tons of annual weeds, and they seem to be outcompeting the natives in the first year, mow the strip to six inches three or four times as they reach one foot tall. Follow up with one or two mows in the second year. Once the strip is established, remove top growth. 

If you prefer to utilize fire in your prairie maintenance, wait until the second fall after planting, and don’t burn more than half of the strip at a time. Any cattle safe plants that grow during the year can be harvested as feed. The strip could also double as a hayfield if the plants within work for that.

If you are interested in being a part of the larger effort to regenerate native ecosystems, you can harvest the seeds of the plants. Here is where weed control from the outset is most important. Contact a local native seed dealer to see if you can contribute to their stock. 

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